In my previous post about Carol Schiro Greenwald’s fascinating presentation, The Emotional Context of Rational Thought at PRSA’s Counselors Academy, I touched on the fallacy of multi-tasking and the need for imagery in conveying messages.

Here are some more of my takeaways from this exploration into the brain and how to reach it through marketing:

1. Memories are not cameras or snapshots. We use senses and stories to put meaning to the experience and then the memory.
2. “Melts in Your Mouth. Not In Your Hands.” There’s a lot of sensation being painted with those two simple lines. That’s what our brain responds to.
3. You remember most of what you see and least of what you hear. No wonder people are always saying “Don’t you remember? I told you, you’re just not listening to me.” They”re right. We’re not.
4. Along the same lines – we all tune out every ten minutes. It happens all day long. I think that’s why social networks are so appealing. They give us that “check out” excuse.
5. Keep it lively and short. Ten seconds is a really long time. Ten minutes is a movie. Engage an emotion and keep your audience with you longer.
6. Video is way more effective than text. Learn how to do it well.
7. There aren’t enough neurons in our heads to remember all the info being thrown at us. Our brains can handle 7-10 pieces of info at any time. Don’t overload your ad, pitch, blog post, etc. with too many points. We can’t handle it.
8. Brands are made of memories, metaphors and stories.

There’s more. But your brain can’t handle it. So I’ll stop.